1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display provided with a liquid crystal panel having a liquid crystal layer between two transparent substrates which are adhered to each other by a sealing adhesive.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, a variety of sizes from compact to large scale of liquid crystal displays have been produced as the applications have been expanded. In particular, liquid crystal displays have been put into practice for a variety of applications which have not conventionally existed by utilizing the characteristics of the liquid crystal displays being light, thin and compact. Examples of the above liquid crystal displays include liquid crystal displays for laptop personal computers having large displays relative to the body sizes (ratios of effective display areas are large and frames are small) and for car navigation systems that require display sizes as large as possible relative to the prescribed sizes. As described above, research has been carried out for narrowing the width around the outside of the display (hereinafter, referred to as frame) to the minimum limit.
In a general liquid crystal display, two substrates on which electrode patterns, orientation films and the like are formed are adhered to each other using a sealing adhesive or an ultraviolet curing resin. At this time, it is necessary to provide a conductive material between the substrates in order to connect the electrodes on the two substrates. In such a case, a conductive material is generally provided in an area outside the sealant (on the side of the sealant opposite to the display). However, a conductive material cannot apply to the outside of the sealant due to the lack of space in some cases, resulting from the liquid crystal display to be designed to have a narrow frame.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-199915 discloses a liquid crystal display panel wherein two substrates are electrically connected to each other by making the sealing adhesive include conductors in a spherical form. It is unnecessary to provide a conductive material outside the sealant, so that the frame can be narrowed according to the above configuration.
However, there is a possibility in the configuration of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-199915 that a sufficient conduction cannot be obtained. Therefore, provision of a conductive material in an area inside the sealant can be considered in order to secure a sufficient conduction while narrowing the frame. In the case where a general resistor paste is used as the conductive material, however, unevenness of the cell gap and non-uniformity of display may be caused during an adhesion process or during a pressing process due to the rigidity of the resistor paste higher than that of the sealing adhesive. In addition, a resistor paste having a low viscosity cannot be used because it spreads at the time of application.